RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

I don't have the design I am working on down to that level of specificity yet. My goal is to develop my own skill set in this regard, but thanks anyway. Just want to acquire some software and learn to do the modeling and then subsequent simulation/analysis.

Would still appreciate any comments regarding experience with double circular-arc gear tooth profiles...

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

By "double circular arc gears" I guess you are referring to a Cycloidal tooth profile.You can purchase a GCode Generator from here: http://www.delphusa.com/index.htm

Cycloidal gears tend to mesh with pure rolling action and are therefore more efficient than an involute profile.A quick search on Google will reveal a wealth of information on the subject of the pros & cons of using either of these profiles.

As to why anyone would consider using the Cycloidal profile in a general industrial spur gear application is beyond me.Some cons:

1. Tooling to generate the profile is near impossible to find off the shelf and would therefore be extremely expensive to produce.2. There are no load rating standards available to validate a design.3. Generally only used in very low load applications such as time keeping devices.

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

I have several papers on double circular arc gears, I was just looking for additional input and experience, and also the software, I will check out what you recommended.

China is head over heels in love with double circualr arc gearing, and most of the papers on the subject are in Chinese as a result. The West seems to have chosen to ignore the benefits of DCA gears over involute for some reason. Can anyone offer as suggestion as to why that may be?

In chapter 4 these kinds of gears and their history/development is covered in detail. Though this paper deals with a slightly different application than mine, it still has many informative sources.

My application is a ring gear/pinion with a 2:1 ratio. Double or triple CA gears seem to offer greater strength in this application than involute gear tooth profiles could provide. If anyone has a gear tooth design to suggest that exceeds DCA or TCA gears, please post some info.

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

Quote:

The West seems to have chosen to ignore the benefits of DCA gears over involute for some reason. Can anyone offer as suggestion as to why that may be?

Some of the things seem obvious even for a "not a gear" expert like me: You would have to use helical gearing to improve contact ratio, the tooling would be expensive - different cutters for gear and pinion - and these gears are very sensitive to axial misalignment.

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

@ocupant: What I am reading tells me different. Many gear designs that are involute use helical designs, so no manufacturing cost difference there for circular arc gears being helical. My sources say that producing circular arc gears is cheaper than producing involute gears. But that may be hard to nail down since so few circular arc gears are produced outside of Russia and China.

And I have also found that modified forms of circular arc gear tooth profiles are not as sensitive to axial misalignment as was initially thought. As well, many gearing applications have very accurate machining and tolerances, and misalignments are few, or very small.

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

I also want to add that I am focused on the Russian version of the double circular arc tooth profile, not the Chinese version, which has a step. The Russian standard design has a smooth transition from one circular arc to the next, with no step.

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

I have books where they were described 40+ years ago. It was also part of our engineering education at that time. Never saw any in real life. In the school (and in that books) we were told that the manufacturing costs are high, that the gears are very sensitive to center distance variations. These are probably the main reasons why they are not used more often. By the way - the link posted by Clyde38 is probably the best what one can find about the topic and it should be sufficient to calculate the geometry. Litvin is good...

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

With regard to the sensitivity of CA gears, does that sensitivity exceed the likely level of tolerances that exist in most bearing systems and/or our current level of machining capabilities?

Lets say a double circular arc gear is mounted via hydrodynamic bearings. Do the subsequent variations in center distances that come with using that type of bearing preclude the use of DCA gears in that application?

RE: double-circular-arc gear generator software

I am still looking for some software that will produce various forms of circular arc gears, that I can subsequently import into solidworks.

@mfgenggear: no offense, but I am having trouble discerning your comments. The accuracy requirement on my end is whatever will work in the chosen application. I am planning on using hydrodynamic bearings, and want to insure that any subsequent center-to-center deltas or errors are tolerable by the chosen circular arc gear.

I am aware that these types of gears are mostly made in Russia and China, and not in the U.S. That is one of the reasons I am here seeking information from people in the industry. Often a design may be rejected due to politics or the "not invented here" syndrome, and I do not want to overlook what may be a practical, superior alternative to standard involute tooth profile gears for those reasons.